Calm and Quiet Christmas

How are you enjoying your holidays so far? Our Christmas was quiet and low key, pretty much what we were anticipating, with just sister and hubby as guests. We tried to keep some of our usual traditions like the Filipino custom of going to mass before Christmas Eve dinner. The true Filipino tradition is really having dinner, noche buena, after Midnight Mass. Since the girls are still young, we can’t pull this tradition quite yet. Instead we went to the 4PM service and had dinner around 8PM. We tried a few new things this year — a Beef Rib Roast, Yorkshire Pudding and Butternut Gratin — along with some staples like Smoked Salmon Canapé, Mushroom Risotto, Baked Ham and Crème Brûlée.

Unfortunately, as much as we were trying to keep things simple this year, Chiara did not feel well on Christmas. She had laryngitis that got progressively worse so that I finally had to take her to see the pediatrician on Saturday. Luckily, she’s feeling much better now and we were able to keep our plans to visit Washington DC before the New Year.

Hope you have a wonderful New Year’s Eve! Wishing you a year full of love, hope and kindness! I’ll be back next week with some photos from our trip and of the New Year.